When I walked into my local pub, The Queen’s Head in Eynsham, the other night, the bar was buzzing — what’s more, almost everyone was tucking into a large Cornish pasty. And they weren’t any old pasties — these were the genuine article and had been made in Cornwall.

Licensee Pete Jones and his partner Jackie Williams were staging another of their popular Pasty Nights and serving pasties they had ‘smuggled’ out of Cornwall, when returning from a short break in the Falmouth area.

Jackie explained that it all began when they brought a few pasties back with them after a holiday in Cornwall. They were so delicious that they asked the village butcher Bryan Carey, who has a small shop in Mylor Bridge, near Falmouth, if he would make some for them to take back to the pub.

Using beef that came from Penryn, just two miles away, and fresh Cornish vegetables, he and his assistants Andrew and Ryan prepared a large batch of pasties and then, using their commercial freezer, froze them down in their raw state.

Jackie and Pete packed them up in a large cool box especially bought for the purchase and stowed them in the boot of their car. All they had to do on returning home was thaw them out, bake them carefully and serve with Cornish premium Tribute ale. The result was a themed night enjoyed by all their regular customers who soon came to recognise the difference between a genuine pasty and those that are mass-produced.

Pete said: “The days of sitting back, putting on some real ale and waiting for your customers to steam in through the door are well and truly gone. Running a pub is hard work these days as a larger proportion of the pub trade’s traditional custom has been eroded over the years, most recently by supermarkets selling alcohol at cut price. The smoking ban has made a difference too.

“Like so many businesses we now have to keep coming up with new ideas to tempt people in.

“The Pasty Nights were born out of a Cornish Real Ale festival we held one weekend, complete with sea shanties and the background noise of seagulls and crashing waves. Our customers enjoyed it so much they asked for more. So when we take a break in Cornwall, which is a foodie paradise and one the most beautiful counties in the country, we bring a taste of Cornwall back with us.”

Although pasties are now made all over the world — variations can be found in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumberland, America too — the pasty has always been associated with Cornwall. For many, it is the symbol of Cornwall. Any Cornish man or woman will tell you a true pasty has to be home baked the traditional way, which calls for a mouth-watering shortcrust pastry, filled with raw ingredients and baked. This is the essential difference between the pasty and meat pies that are usually filled with cooked ingredients.

No one is sure of the true origins of the Cornish pasty, though it is thought it can be traced back to the middle ages. The earliest recipe for the pasty, which is now held in a Cornish Record Office in Truro, dates back to 1746.

One thing is certain: pasties met the needs of the Cornish tin miners during the 18th century as they needed a nutritious, yet portable, meal to see them through long days working underground. It is thought that the miners also used freshly-baked pasties to keep them warm while working in the mines by packing them close to their bodies.

In order to give their menfolk a two course meal, Cornish housewives placed the meat and vegetables one end and jam or fruit at the other, placing a small piece of pastry in the centre to separate the flavours.

They also marked their husband’s initials on the pastry to avoid confusion at lunchtime.

There has always been a certain amount of controversy as to how the pasty should be sealed. Should it be sealed at the top or should the famous Cornish crimp which seals the pastry together be on the side? The pasties served at the Queen’s Head are sealed on the side. One thing most pasty makers agree on is that the meat should be chopped and the vegetables sliced before being wrapped in pastry.

Some cooks use rough puff pastry to give it a certain lightness, but most go for shortcrust pastry, which crumbles in the mouth and soaks up the meat juices as it cooks. Although it is now customary to serve pasties with chips and sometimes a portion of baked beans, the whole point of a pasty is that it is a meal in itself.

Pete said that their genuine Cornish pasties were so good that some of their customers joke about moving to Mylor just so that they could eat them more often.